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OF TlIE 


CORDILLERAS OF NORTH AMERICA, 

PARTICULARLY AS TO 

. 

PRECIOUS METALS. 

I ' ' 

WITH A MAP. 

Price Twenty-Five Cents. 


.BY 

COL. CHAS. WHITTLESEY, 

* 

\ 

OF THE LATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS IX 
OHIO, WISCONSIN, AND THE NORTHWESTERN STATES. 




i 

, PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 



































Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the Clerk's Office of the 
Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District 
of Ohio, June Id, 18Gd. 
















Ptuladelp Urn 4 
Hailunorp \ 
jWashm^lon O 


CoppeT 


Silver & lead 


msco 


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FROM SOUTH PASS TO THE BAY OP SAAf FRAHC/SCO 


GalvesLo 


Lake Jfujnbd/fT. JttV- Pit ■ 


Crl JO. Frrnumt ) 


THE MOUTH OP THE KAHSAS TO THE P AC/E/C 
^ntr tie *ct*ud *■ tie Farl-SaaeL bythr Water Oreut'j 


l$.ooe Feet 


Wagner 38 Huns on Si Ph.il a 


4 <rb A 

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OF THE 


CORDILLERAS OF NORTH AMERICA, 


PARTICULARLY AS TO 


PRECIOUS METALS, 


CHA’S. WHITTLESEY, 

* i 

of the late Geological Surveys in 
OHIO, WISCONSIN, ANT) THE NORTH WESTERN STATES. 



/ 


CLEVELAND, OHIO! 

FRtNTED BY' FAIRBANKS, BENEDICT & CO., HERALD OFFICE. 

1 863. 




T/JU' 


THE CORDILLERAS OF AMERICA. 


PHYSICAL AND GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. 

-•- 

The principal mineral wealth of the western Continent is 
found in a Range of Mountains which overlook the Pacific 
Ocean. One great Chain extends from the Straits of Ma¬ 
gellan, Northerly through South America, Central America 
and North America to the Arctic Sea. The line of greatest 
elevation between the two oceans is much nearer to the Pa¬ 
cific Coast than the Atlantic. In South America and in 
Central America, up to the City of Mexico, there is but 
one main uplift known in geography as the Andes. This 
lofty and continuous ridge maintains a general parallelism 
with the Sea Coast, because the position of the Coast line 
was fixed by the elevation of the Mountains. It extends 
without interruption from latitude 50 South, to 70 
North and is the seat of those mines of precious metals 
for which South America was coveted and conquered by 
the Spaniards three hundred years ago. Not far south of 
the city of Mexico, in the State of Oajaca, the main line of 




4 


MOUNTAINS OF MEXICO. 


the Andes is separated into two branches. One lies to the 
east of that city, pursuing a course nearly north and paral¬ 
lel with the gulf of Mexico through Queretaro, New Leon 

and Coahuila, into Texas, under the general name of the 

\ 

Sierra Madre. This name has not a very definite meaning 
in physical geography. In Mexico it is used as a general 
term for a main chain or the “ mother r of mountains.— 
North of the Rio Del Norte, it is known as the Guadaloupe 
and sometimes as the Organ Mountains, which continue 
northward to the east of Santa Fe as far as Pikes Peak.— 
Throughout the Republic of Mexico, there are silver mines 
in the Sierra Madre. 

In Mexico, the mountain system is generally spoken of as 
the “ Cordilleras;'’ a title given to it by Humboldt. It em¬ 
braces the elevated portion of the country which constitutes 
a high and broken surface dropping off rapidly to both 
oceans. The Sierra Madre is the eastern edge. On the 
west is the Sierra Nevada often called the northern Andes, 
which is near to, and parallel with the Pacific Ocean and 
the Gulf of California. It extends through Michoacan 
Sinaloa Sonora, and Arizona, into California. Like the 
Sierra Madre it is more like the edge of an elevated broken 
plateau fronting to the west than a range of mountains. 
Silver mines of great richness are found in it, from the city 
of Mexico to the Gila and farther north at Washoe in Neva¬ 
da. From California, northward, this range goes by the 
name of the Cascade Mountains, passing into British Co- 


MOUNTAINS OF NEW ^MEXICO. 


5 


lumbia and the Russian possessions. It has in its general 
course a rude parallelism to the Sea Coast, and terminates 
in the promontories near Behrings Straits. 

Gold has been found on the slopes of the Sierra Neva¬ 
da, or Snowy Range, in the lower spurs and hills near its 
base from the Gila river to Frazer’s River. 

There are connected with the Sierra Nevada and the 
Sierra Madre many subordinate ranges. The Sierra Mim- 
bres of Chihuahua, which divides the waters of the Rio 
Bel Norte from those of the Colorado, is one, and is a 
metal bearing range. On some maps it is called the Sierra 
Madre. There are cross ranges and corrugations of the 
general uplift, such as surround the great interior basin of 
the Humboldt River, known as the Wasatch and Oregon 
Mountains. A lower chain lies between the Sierra Nevada 
and the sea, under the name of the Coast Range. It com¬ 
mences at the extremity of the peninsula of Lower Cali¬ 
fornia, and stretches northward, always in view from the 
ocean, through California and Oregon. In this there are 
reported to be mines of silver, in Lower California. In 
California, Oregon and Washington there is coal in the foot 
hills, and near San Francisco there is one of the richest 
quicksilver mines of the world. 

From Pikes Peak, northward, to the Arctic sea are the 
Rocky Mountains; extensions of the Sierra Madre of 
Mexico under a new name. For greater convenience of 
description I embrace the entire North American extension 


METAL BEARING ROCKS. 


6 

ot the Andes in the term Cordilleras North America. 
This vast extent of strata must be regarded physically and 
geologically as one system. For extent and scenic grandeur 
it has no competitor. Its summits rise from 6,000 to 13,000 
and 17,000 feet above the ocean, manv of them like Are- 
quipa, Popocatapetl and St. Helens, throwing out perpetual 
fires from above the line of perpetual ice. 

Throughout the entire length there is an uniformity of 
geological structure. Mineral veins yielding the precious 
metals are characterised the world over by similar geological 
associations. The backbone of this Continent is the result 
of a vast rent in the crest of the earth, occupying about one 
third of its circumference. From this fissure the igneous 
rocks protruded along the whole line, at different intervals 
of time, constituting the core or central mass of the uphea¬ 
val. Those rocks are granite, sienite, porphyry and trachyte. 
They are to be distinguished from eruptions of lava that 
occur in all eras, even in our own day, but in irregular 
and spasmodic efforts of the interior forces. Overlying the 
igneous rocks are micaceous schists, gneiss, talcose slate, indu¬ 
rated clay slates, and siliceous slates, which are without 
fossils, and are called in general terms “Metemorphic rocks.” 
The central igneous rocks sometimes penetrate the Metamor- 
phic System ;. the result of disturbances subsequent to the 
epoch of the azoic slates. In the slates are found the most 
valuable veins. They have their source frequently in the 
igneous rocks below, and radiating from them and particu- 


METAL BEARING VEINS. 


7 


larly from the junction of the two systems, penetrate the 
schists, cutting through them into their overlying lime¬ 
stones. The character of those veins will be shown in more 
detail in what follows. It will there be seen that there is a 
conformity in the geological structure of this great mountain 
chain quite as striking as its magnitude in its physical sense. 


PAST SUPPLY OF PRECIOUS METALS. 

The question of the product of precious metals in differ 
ent parts of the world is so important that it has engaged 
the attention of the best statisticians ever since the mines 
of Yew Spain began to furnish gold to Europe. Before the 
time of Humboldt, no less than sixteen persons of scientific 
reputation had given their statements, of the quantity de¬ 
rived from America, prior to the present century. They 
differed so widely that Humboldt made it a subject of enqui¬ 
ry during all his journeyings in the Spanish Colonies. After 
great labor and with access to the records of mining in the 
New world, he published an account of the annual product 
from the discoverv of America in 1492 to the vear 1803, a 
period of 311 years. 

This exhibit evinced so much research and so much per¬ 
sonal examination of the mines both in Mexico and in 
South America, that it has been received as the best author¬ 
ity. Under the Spanish system, mineral veins belong to 
the crown, which derives an income by a royalty, or rent, 


8 


YIELD OF AMERICAN MINES. 


upon the metal produced. In this way the official returns, 
if correctly rendered, would give the exact product of the 
mines. But the miners possessed great ingenuity and no 
scruples in concealing rich pieces of ore or native gold and 
silver, about their persons. The Spanish officials are not 
considered to be more honest than other people, not being 
wholly above suspicion of bribery. It was the interest of 
all parties in the Vice royalties of the new world far away 
from the surveillance of the crown to reduce in the official 
reports the amount of gold and silver produced. 

Here is Humboldt’s Statement: 


PROD UCT OF GOLD AND SIR VER of the mines of 
the New continent from its discovery to the year 1803, and 
for some subsequent years. 


[EPOCH. 

NO. YEARS. 

TOTAL IN DOLLARS. 

ANNUAL AVERAGE. 

AUTHOEIES' 

1492 to 1500 

8 

2,000,000 

250,000 

HUMBOLDT. 

1 500 to the discove¬ 
ry of Potosi 1 546 

45 

135,000,000 

3,000,000 

ii 

1545 to 1600 

55 

605,000,000 

11,000,000 

u 

1600 to 1700 

100 

1,600,000,000 

16,000,000 

u 

1700 to 1750 

50 

1,125,000,000 

22,500,000 

a 

1750 to 1803 

53 

1,771,900,000 

32,300,000 

u 

Tot. and Av. 

311 

5,238,900,000 

16,845,338 


1*90 to 1880 Peru 
and Brazil wanting 

40 

910,070,727 

22,787,159 

London Min¬ 
ing Journal. 


The period of 40 years from 1790 to 1830 covers 13 years 
of the latter part of Humboldt’s tables. The total amount 
as stated by McCulloch is §^011,486,380, differing slightly 
from the report of the London Mining Journal. Both re¬ 
sults are based upon the reports of British Consuls in differ- 







































MEXICAN MINES. 


9 


ent parts of the world, who were directed to procure statis¬ 
tics in relation to precious metals. Of this sum $708,655,535 
is the product of Mexico in silver, and $32,182,265 in gold. 
In the table of the consuls, the United States did not figure 
largely. In 1830 only $109,000 in gold is credited to us. 

Soon after Humboldt left America the French Armies 
attached the old Kingdom of Spain, which enabled her col¬ 
onies in the new world to get up a successful revolt. A 
quarter of a century of disorder had an effect upon the 
product of the mines and upon the accuracy of the returns of 
what they actually produced. During all the period of 
Spanish occupation embraced in the foregoing table, mining 
was carried on by the rudest mechanical appliances. This 
work was done by a rude people, in an age when they had 
no assistance from steam engines. 

It follows that the mineral veins of South America were 
very rich or very easily wrought in order to give the yield 
above stated. Mr. McCulloch thinks some abatement 
should be made from Humboldt’s figures. 

Geo. Sumner, Esq., of Boston, asserted in a public lecture 
some years since, that he had examined the shipping bills 
which are still preserved at Madrid of the treasure received 
by the crown. He thinks the sums are usually overrated. 
The Spanish writers who accompanied Cortez and Pizarro 
were somewhat given to exaggeration. Their imaginative 
methods of description, have their influence upon those who 
study Spanish history. If it is true that the simple mind- 


10 


SOUTH AMERICA. 


ed Atahualpa, after having been made prisoner through the 
duplicity of Pizarro, his generals and confessors, filled the 
room in which he was confined, with gold up to the cele¬ 
brated red mark on its walls, he must have had at com¬ 
mand 400 to 600 millions. This money should have gone 
directly to Spain, where such an amount could not have es¬ 
caped attention. 

The workings of the Peruvians, under the Incas, were still 
more rude than those of the Spaniards. They were prin¬ 
cipally confined to the washing of auriferous sands, as is 
usually the case in barbarous nations. 

A people who had little commerce did not require much 
gold, for the purposes of money. They used it for orna¬ 
ments and as a material of value to be hoarded. A small 
amount, as compared with the same population in modern 
and more civilized ages, answered the Peruvians for all pur¬ 
poses, to which they applied the precious metals. 

All these circumstances go to show that we are in the 
habit of overestimating the quantity of gold and silver 
found in this country by the Spaniards, and the Portuguese, 
and also the amounts derived by them after the conquest. 

A mint was established in Mexico in the year 1535, the 
total coinage of which is given by Dr. Fisher to the year 
1850, a period of (315) three hundred and fifteen years. It 
amounts to the sum of $2,667,828,851. The great mine at 
Potosi, formerly in Peru, but now in Buenos Ayres, was dis- 


EXTENT OF MINING GROUND. 


11 


covered in 1545. In 1847, Dr. Ure upon the authority ol 
Humboldt estimates the entire yield of the veins around 
Potosi at $1,150,000,000. 

I offer these general statements to show that there are 
upon the American Continent vast resources as to precious 
metals. By consulting the accompanying map it will be 
seen that the area over which they are found, or are likely 
to be found, in North America is much greater than in 
South America. 

In South America and up to the city of Mexico, there is 
but one mountain chain. From thence to the Arctic Sea, 
there are two main elevations with a space between them 
of 500 to 1000 miles in width. I shall show that on both 
slopes of these ranges and in the elevated and broken inter¬ 
mediate country, embracing the basins of the Colorado, 
the Humboldt, and the Columbia Rivers, gold and silver 
have been found as far north as the region has been examin¬ 
ed. By geological analogy and inference it should exist in 
the same ranges still farther north, through the Russian pos¬ 
sessions. In addition to this great extent of mining coun¬ 
try, we must also take into account the improved methods 
of extracting metals and of working mineral veins. 

Gold is a metal so universally diffused in nature, that 
there are very few nations of the first class in whose limits 
it is not found. It exists like other metals in veins, but in 
a native state and not as an ore. It is imperishable or rath¬ 
er incapable of change, under the effects of acids and oxi- 


12 


DIFFUSION OF GOLD. 


dating gases. As the vein matter which surrounds it is 
disintegrated and modified bv chemical and mechanical 
agencies it remains always the same. It is crushed by the 
drift or diluvial forces into grains, scales and dust, but not 
altered in a chemical sense, as copper, iron and silver 
are. In the form of dust it is transported long distances 
by currents of water, but never perishes and remains at the 
base of the surrounding sand and gravel a pure, glittering 
metal, easily distinguished by every one. Almost all iron 
and copper pyrites contain some of it. When they are de¬ 
composed, the gold which was mixed with them mechani¬ 
cally, separates. 

Thus, almost all soils, earths and bodies of drift materials 
contain some gold. The chemists of the mint of the Uni¬ 
ted States have detected it in the alluvial clay which un¬ 
derlies the city of Philadelphia. But, in general, the quan¬ 
tity is so small that it is of no practical value. Only a few 
square miles, compared with the territory of a nation, has it 
in sufficient abundance to pay for extraction. Such tracts 
when it is found loose in the form of lumps, nuggets, pepitas, 
grains, scales and dust are called “ placers.” It is mingled 
with boulders, gravel, sand and clay of irregular richness, 
derived by the agencies above named from true veins or 
rocks more or less distant. 

Thus the supply of gold is resolved into a question of the 
cost of procuring it, or the comparative value of labor. In 
this country placers are numerous and so are the mines. 


FUTURE OPERATIONS. 


13 


As soon as this war shall cease, thousands of our young 
men who are now soldiers will seek for adventures and foi 
fortunes in the gold fields of the west. The information we 
now have is conclusive, as to the mineral value of that re 
gion, from Arizona to the British Provinces. If the Brit¬ 
ish and Russian possessions were ours, emigration would not 
stop at latitude 49. There are inducements of climate and 
soil, besides those of the precious metals, sufficient to attract 
our citizens northward as far as the Arctic Circle. But 
without this the relations of British Columbia to the Pacific 
States of the Union are so close, that the gold procured 
there will most of it come to San Fiancisco. 

The detailed statements I shall now proceed to give will, 
I think, sustain my estimates of a probable increase of one 
hundred per cent, during the next five years, and of an in¬ 
crease upon that of 50 per cent, in the five following years. 


IRON ORE. 

The value of ores of iron, depends upon a cheap supply 
of charcoal or of mineral coal in the vicinity. Iron ore 
exists in Mexico, but timber being scarce and coal wanting, 
no use is made of it. In Arizona, not far from where the 
Santa Cruz River crosses the southern boundary of the 
United States, Mr. Wrightson saw specimens of excellent 
magnetic ore. 



14 


BITTER ROOT MOUNTAINS—ORE. 


Iron ores of sedimentary origin are found in Colorado 
near Denver City, from which, according to the report of 
the Surveyor General, iron is now made. Capt. Mullen, of 
the Topographical Engineers, and Dr. John Evans, Geologist 
for Oregon, discovered a very rich hematite on the Bitter 
Root Mountains of Idaho , in a region where timber is 
abundant. 

Dr. D. D. Owen made an analysis of this ore. It is as 
follows : Per oxide 89.95 (equal to metallic iron 62.993) 
Alumina 6.90. Alkalie 0.10, Silex 1.90, Water 0.05. These 
results show a remarkably pure and rich ore. 

The Jesuit missionaries of Oregon say there is iron ore 
on the Kootonie River , near our northern boundary. It has 
also been found in Utah, where the Mormons manufacture 
iron. Dr. Evans, in his report, (not yet printed,) mentions a 
specimen from Oregon, the locality of which is lost, that 
gave 42.25 metallic iron. In the Cascade Mountains he 
found the hydrated oxide, containing 47.61 per cent. An¬ 
other specimen of specular oxide, from the Spokane Moun¬ 
tains, gave 62.81 per cent., and one from the Cascade Moun¬ 
tains, 64.02. Wherever it is known that there is a bed of 
pure hard mineral coal, the first duty of the people in its 
vicinity is to seek for iron ore. 

So common a mineral attracts little attention, ^though it is 
indispensable to civilized man. There can be little doubt 
that special examinations on the waters of the Pacific Slope 
will disclose an abundance of iron ore. Those lower ranges 


BLACK HILLS—TIMBER. 


15 


and spurs of the Rocky Mountains north of the South 
Pass, including the Black Hills, are heavily timbered and 
will give an ample supply of charcoal. The streams fur¬ 
nish an unlimited amount of water Power for furnaces and 
for iron works of every description. Further south there 
is in many places a large growth of musquite which makes 
good coal. 

The analysis of the mineral coal on Bellingham Bay , 
Washington Territory, discloses facts of great importance in 
reference to iron manufactures. Hr. Owen regards it as 
semi-anthracite. It yields coke 54.50, volatile gases and 
moisture 43.18, ashes 2.30 sulphur 0.47. It is of a bright 
black color, hard, specific gravity 1.333 and does not crum¬ 
ble on exposure. Several other valuable coals are mention¬ 
ed under the head of mineral, coal. 


MINERAL COAL. 

Although a belt (or belts) of limerock exists in or near the 
main crest of the Rocky Mountains, which belongs to the 
carboniferous system, no beds of workable coal have been 
found in it. The numerous explorers who have crossed 
these mountains from Arizona to British Columbia, agree 
that there are limestones of the coal, measures in abundance, 
but that there are only limited developements of the coal 
shales. On the route from Denver City to Salt Lake, Mr. 





16 


UTAH AND COLARADO—COAL. 


Berthaud reports a seam of coal that is regarded as belong¬ 
ing to the carboniferous system. But all the other localities 
thus far brought into notice, are connected with rocks of the 
cretaceous or tertiary eras. These rocks occupy an extent 
of country between the Mississippi river and the Pacific 
which, when compared with that of other formations, is pro¬ 
digious. East of the mountains they constitute the surface 
beds over those vast plains through which the waters of the 
Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Platte and Rio Grande 
rivers, flow towards the sea. On the west, the Colorado and 
its branches, the Mohave, Humboldt, Sacramento and Co¬ 
lumbia Rivers, show the same formation upon their banks. 

The most valuable and most numerous coal seams hither¬ 
to developed are in the cretaceous. The coal of both the 
tertiary and cretaceous systems is in general soft, sulphurous, 
and has a large proportion of ashes. 

The “ seams ,” or beds, (frequently called “ veins,”) in 
these formations cannot be depended upon for uniformity in 
thickness, quality or extent, like those of the true coal 
measures. It will be much more difficult to find coal of 
that pure and solid character which is required in the com¬ 
mon stack furnace for making iron, in these than in the 
carboniferous rocks. In the present state of information, 
the best indications for beds of the ancient coal period are 
to the east and south east of Utah Lake, where the black 
shales exist, and where specimens have been found. 


CARBONIFEROUS SHALES. 


17 


Captain Simpson’s party observed coal and carboniferous 
shales about Latitude 381, North, Longitude 112, west. To 
abbreviate as much as possible the exhibit of localities, and 
the descriptions of quality, thickness, &c., I have constructed 
the following table. Where no mention is made of the as¬ 
sociated rocks it will be understood that they are cretaceous. 

Mr. Hector of the Canada Survey, reports carboniferous 
limestones and rocks containing coal plants in the Rocky 
Mountains north of the American line. 


2 


18 


LOCALITIES OF MINERAL COAL 


KNOWN LOCALITIES OF MINERAL COAL, 


In and West of the Rocky Mountains , in the order of their occurrence 
from South to North. 


LOCALITY. 

--- 

New Mexico—O n the 
San Juan River. 

California— San Juan! 
Mission,Monterey Co. 


Monte Diablo, Cal. 


Nevada Territory— 
near Dayton. 

Colorado Territory 
— Near Colorado 
city. 

Near Golden city. 

West of the Snowy 
Mountains on road 
from Denver city to 
Salt Lake. 

Latitude 38J4 North. 

Longtitude 112 West. 


South Boulder Creek. 


PHYSICAL CHARACTER. AUTHORITIES. 

Specimen 1245, (Smith- Dr. J. S. Newberry, 
sonian) pure hard and 
black. 


Tertiary coal, soft. Land Office Report, 

1862. 

5 ft. thick ; used at San 
Francisco lor S Boats; I “ “ “ 

seam traceable seve¬ 
ral miles ; sells at $12 
per ton. 

Not described. “ “ “ 


3 feet thick, several 
mines worked. 


44 


U 44 


Not described. “ 

Probably carboniferous. “ 


Capt. Simpson, To¬ 
pographical Eng. 

11 feet thick ; dip south 
west 75 ; 41)0 tons 
sold at $10 ; below Land Office Report, 
this one, seam 4 feet 1S62. 

and another 5 feet 
thick. 


Coal Creek, 15 miles 
south o f Denver 
City. Also in T 14, 
south range 1 west, 
and T 1 south R 69 
W. 


4 


feet thick, dip 
East 10°. 


South 


44 


44 


44 
























LOCALITIES OF MINERAL COAL—"CONTINUED. 


19 


LOCALITY. 

White River Valley. 

Arkansas River, 20 
miles below Canon 
City. 

South Platte River, 2 
miles above Plum 
Creek. 

Head waters of Green 
River, 20 to 30 miles 
west of 8. Pass. 

Oregon — Willamette 
River. 


Dwamish River. 


Washington Terri¬ 
tory—B e 1 lingham 
Bay. 


Fitzhugh Mine. 


Nonaimo “ 
Bigelows “ 

Goose Bay “ 

Cape Flattery" 

Cowlitz River. 

Vancouver’s Island 
—Douglass Mine. 


Dakotah Territory 
Near Fort Berthold, 
Missouri River. 


PHYSICAL CHARACTER. 
6 feet thick. 


Not described. 


3 feet thick, soft; dip 
S. East 60. 


Thin and soft. 


Used on Steamboats. 

Coke, 52.08 ; Volatile 
Gases, 24.08 ; Mois¬ 
ture, 12.00 ; Ashes, 
10,40. 

Spec. 1220, (Smithso¬ 
nian) specific gravity, 

1.333 ; Coke, 54.50 ; Vol¬ 
atile Gases and Mois¬ 
ture, 43.18 ; Ashes, 
2.30 ; Sulphur, 0.47 ; 
contains Amber, but 
no Bitumen ; used in 
Steamboats : very 
good. 

Similar to that at Bel¬ 
lingham ; highly re¬ 
commended by Dr. 
Owen. 

Lignite, inferior. 

Workeable thickness, 
bright black color. 

Good thickness ; terti¬ 
ary, soft ; many years 
on fire. 

Carbon, 37.00; Volatile, 
Gases, 54.50 ; Ashes, 
light green color, 8.50; 
Sp,g. 1.33. 


authorities. 
L’d Office Rep. 1862. 

“ « u 

“ “ a 

Capt. Fremont. 

Report of General 
Land Office, 1862. 

Dr. Evan’s Report. 

“ « u 




“ “ u 

Land Office Report. 

Capt. Galpin. 

Dr. Owen. 




















20 


LOCALITIES OF MINERAL COAL—CONTINUED. 


LOCALITY. 


Idaho —Three Buttes, 
60 miles north of 
Fort Benton. 

Bear’s Paw Mountains, 
8 miles north Mis¬ 
souri River. 


Nebraska Territory 
—Port Clark. 


PHYSICAL CHARACTER. 


Soft; tertiary ; thin. 


Used by Blacksmith’s. 

Carbon, 38.00; Ashes, 
(white) 11.50 ; Vola¬ 
tile Gases and Mois¬ 
ture, 50.00 specific 
gravity, 1.34. 


AUTHORITIES. 


Capt. Pallisser. 


Capt. Galpin. 


Dr. Owen. 


Canada —Near bound¬ 
ary on the Ivootanie 
River. 


No description. 


Gov. Stevens. 

R. Road Reports. 


Red Deer River, Rocky 
Mountains. 


12 ft. thick and 14 miles 
in length ; on fire 
many years. 


James Hector, Geo¬ 
logist with Capt. 
Pallisser. 


Battle River, Lat. 52 
28, Long. Ill 30, w. 
Edmonton House, on 
the Saskatcliawan 
River. 


Good thickness, soft. 

4 ft. thick, soft ; terti¬ 
ary. 


u u u 


a u a 


Mountain House, 52 
29 n, Long. 115 w. 


Little known. 


U U U 












QUICKSILVER AND OTHER MINERALS. 


21 


QUICKSILVER AND OTHER MINERALS. 

In the analagoas formations in Mexico there are numer¬ 
ous mines of Quicksilver; the richest of which is at Gua- 
dalcaraz. It is found in Queretaro Zacatecas, Jalisco, Guer¬ 
rero, and San Luis. 

As yet there is but one principal mine in the United States, 
which is near San Francisco, at New Almaden, and is fa¬ 
mous for its product, and the ease with which it is worked. 

f 

From similarity of geological structure, it is reasonable 
to expect veins of the Sulphuret of Mercury ( Cinnabar ,) in 
many other places. 

The facility with which it has been wrought at New 
Almaden, has brought down the price of Quicksilver the 
world over. In 1852 there was produced 39,671 flasks, of 
75 pounds each, or 2,959,325 pounds. In 1854 the yield of 
this mine was 20,000 flasks—previous to which time 3,500,- 
000 pounds had been raised. Nature has thus furnished, 
for the miners of California, the means of amalgamating the 
product of their mineral veins, in cheapness and profusion 
hitherto unknown. 

Valuable metals besides Gold and Silver have been dis¬ 
covered. Platinum, Iridium, Osmium and Antimony, are 
found; but, as yet, only in small quantities. There are, 
near Monterey and Los Angelos, permanent springs of Pe¬ 
troleum, and, over large spaces, the rocks which contain 
liquid Bitumen are known to exist. 


22 


COPPER. 


COPPER. 

In Calaveras County, California, Copper mines have 
been wrought to a limited extent. Curing the year 1862 
($366,000) three hundred and sixty-six thousand dollars 
worth of this metal was raised at the Calaveras mines, from 
which ($60,00U) sixty-thousand, in gold, was extracted. 

4 

One hundred and fifty thousand, is the value of Copper 
obtained from a mine at Copperopolis. 

The very rich mine of Santa Rita del Cobre, in New 

Mexico, (now Arizona,) on the head waters of the Gila, 

has been suspended by the rebellion. Its nearest port of 

delivery is at Lavacca, in Texas, at a distance of between 

700 and 800 miles. It was, notwithstanding, a profitable 
mine. 

\ 

There are heavy veins of Copper, and Copper Ore, near 
the Maricopa village, on the Gila river, and also North of 
the Gila, to the East of the Colorado. 

The Copper in the veins at Santa Cruz, and near Tu- 
bac, will be an object whenever railways penetrate that 
country. 

Near the North line of California, in Oregon, and not far 
from the Portland meridian, Dr. Ev.ins found specimens of 
native Copper, in which Dr. Jackson detected Gold. 


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COMPARISON OF THE GOLD AND SILVER BEARING ROCfiS OF THE UNITED 
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24 


GOLD AND SILVER BEARING ROCKS—CONTINUED. 


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GOLD AND SILVER BEARING ROCKS—CONTINUED. 25 


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GEOLOGICAL CONCLUSIONS. 


27 


By attentively considering the character of the wall rocks, 
the mineral contents of the veins and their metallic pro¬ 
ducts, as embodied in the foregoing table, it will he seen 
that the laws of nature are uniform. 

When the rocky strata of the Sierra Nevada and the 
Rocky Mountains were ascertained to be similar to those of 
the Southern Cordilleras it was safe to predict, the existence 
of precious metals. This is a sure deduction from geological 
rules. For three hundred years the Spaniards in Mexico, 
Peru, and other South American Colonies, had extracted 
silver and some gold from the veins of the metamorphic 
and silurian rocks. It was not therefore a mere speculation 
or prophecy but a reliable conclusion of science that these 
rocks extending northward through the United States would 
contain the same metals. 

Father De Smedt, and other catholic missionaries reported 
to Captain McClellan (now General McClellan), in charge 
of one of the parties exploring for a North Pacific Railroad, 
that there are veins on the Kootanie River near our North¬ 
ern boundary from which they procured lead. From what 
is known of the rocks of the Kootanie region, they resemble 
those of Arizona, which embrace lead veins that carry 
silver commonly called “ argentiferous galena.” Lead veins 
with such geological associations, usually produce silver in 
other mining regions of the old and of the new world. 
These facts establish a law, in reference to mineral veins. 


28 


AURIFEROUS PYRITES. 


The sulphurets of iron and copper from veins in the meta- 
morphic rocks, or veins proceeding from them, into silurian 
or carboniferous limestones, carry gold. Veins of sulphuret 
of lead in the same rocks produce silver. It must be the same 
on the Kootanie River; if it is true that the metamorphic 
rocks constitute the walls of those veins. 

Professor J. C. Booth, the well known assayist of the 
mint at Philadelphia, has tested a large number of the lead 
ores of the United States. There are very few of them, 
whatever their geological relations, that have not some 
silver. Those of the sedimentary rocks of Wisconsin and 
Iowa are deficient, and they are veins which have not been 
traced to the azoic rocks in a single instance. 

There is a belt of limerock, in many places known to be 
carboniferous, tilted up by the metamorphic and igneous 
rocks below; and which extends from Arizona along the 
Rocky Mountain Range into Canada. Veins of argen¬ 
tiferous galena may be expected at the junction of these 
two systems, along the entire range. At present the only 
portion of the immense mineral region of the Pacific Slope, 
which has undergone a detailed geological examination is 
California. Mr. Trask, Professor Blake, and Mr. Whitney, 
have explored the State of California with great labor, 
and professional skill. The final report of Mr. Whitney is 
not yet made. As he has ample means furnished by the 
State, and the requisite scientific ability that portion of the 


UNEXPLORED TERRITORY. 


29 


country will soon be thoroughly understood. Dr. Evans 
unfortunately died before his report upon the valley of the 
Columbia was written out. In Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, 
Utah, Oregon, Idaho and Washington, this work is yet to 
be done. Our information in regard to these territories is 
derived principally from the Pacific Pail Poad Reports. 
The commissioner of the land office has for two successive 
years applied to Congress for the sum of §10,000 to aid in 
collecting through the surveyors of the public lands, statis¬ 
tics in reference to minerals. He has not been able to 
obtain this or any sum for that purpose. At the last session 
six hundred and ninety three thousand, dollars (§693,000) 
were appropriated to extend and repair buildings in Wash¬ 
ington City. 

It is not claimed that surface examinations will deter¬ 
mine absolutely the value of a mineral region. This can 
only be done by the miner. But judicious explorations by 
practical men are necessary preliminaries. There is no 
other way of determining in advance the probable value of 
a country. An acquaintance with the age, the chemical com¬ 
position, the stratification, and the vein systems of the for¬ 
mations, will decide what minerals exist, and how they are 
to be wrought, and ihe probable quantity that may be ex¬ 
pected. 

The geologist is the pioneer of the local explorer, and of 
mining operations. It is for him alto to decide what may 


30 


PLACERS. 


not be found, and for which it would be useless to explore. 
The experience of other countries and the labors of other 
men, applied to similar objects, are thus made available. 

Placers and gold washings are less subject to rules than 

vein mining. In local operations there are over small dis¬ 
tricts, deposits that have some uniformity. But the distri¬ 
bution of alluvial gold is generally accidental. It some¬ 
times has a rich “ course ” or deposit, along the bed of an 
ancient river, now covered by sand and gravel or recent lava 
as in Australia ; or where it was distributed throughout 
heavy beds of superficial materials, heretofore known as 
“diluvium,” and sometimes as “ drift,’’ through which a 
recent river had cut itself a channel. These are the wash¬ 
ing operations of nature, by which a small quantity of widely 
diffused metal is concentrated in long, irregular lines, as 
the water ran its natural course. When such ancient water 
courses have been concealed by geological changes, they 
can only be rediscovered by actual exploitation. 

There was also a more universal and wide-spread mode 
of gold concentration, brought into play since the formation 
of the veins. It was the drift power or “ forces ,” whatever 
they were, by which, in those parts of the earth toward the 
poles beyond parallels 40 and 45, the surface of the rocks 
has been abraded, crushed and pulverised. This process 
involved the destruction of veins which pre-existed in 
the strata. The drift agent was at first the irresis- 
tablc one of glacier ice, which once enveloped the earth, to- 


ERRATIC DRIFT. 


31 


wards the poles. In latitudes nearer the equator than the 
Arctic and Antarctic circles, it was probably a mixed force, 
composed of moving ice and water. But whatever it was, 
the evidence is everywhere abundant that it transported 
materials broken off the rocks away from the colder to the 
more temperate zones. In the Northern Hemisphere the 
movement was southerly. Fragments of northern rocks, 
under the well known name of boulders, and in the form of 
small stones, gravel and clay, have been thus carried many 
hundred miles. The strata over which they were borne, are 
smoothed, polished and scratched, showing lines, grooves, 
and ridges, evidently made by hard bodies, moving in a 
southerly direction. Where there are chains of mountains 
the movement was in some cases outward from the main 
line, or centre, as is seen in the glaciers of the Alps. In 
other cases where lesser ranges lie oblique to the general 
course of the drift, the direction is changed by such minor 
elevations acting as harriers. A force sufficient to break off 
and carry away masses of stone, gravel and dirt, is equal 
to the transportation of pieces of copper, iron ore, lead, 
silver, gold or whatever else was enclosed in the rocks. 
Accordingly, boulders of native copper are found in the 
loose materials, scattered all the way from Lake Superior to 
Lake Erie, and even further south. If the smaller pieces 
of this metal, the grains and scales, that exist in the veins 
in Situ, were like gold, imperishable, they might have been 
found much further from the original deposite. In examin- 


32 


TRANSPORTED GOLD. 


ing a new country for stream or alluvial gold, the evidences 
of drift action should not be neglected. 

The debris of transported rocks indicate what formations 
there are in the direction from which they came. Pieces of 
quarts, spar, and other vein matter, found in the gravel, 
are “ float mineral,” brought on a large scale from a great 
distance. There are other modes, in which rocks and their 
enclosed veins are disintegrated and transported. It may 
be by the influence of climate upon soft strata, or by chemi¬ 
cal changes. The transporting power of currents of water, 
if long periods of time are allowed, is very great. Pebbles 
that have their origin upon large rivers, and are moved 
only by freshets, a few feet once or twice in a year, travel, 
in the lapse of centuries, many miles. Scales and the finer 
particles of gold are easily moved in this way ; and by what¬ 
ever mode the loose materials are mixed and moved about, 
gold being heavier than the soil, earth or gravel, gravi¬ 
tates towards the bottom, and lodges at various depths upon 
the surface of the rocks. 

Gold washings are the first resource in all countries, be¬ 
cause neither machinery, skill or capital is required. 
Savage people of ancient times, had no difficulty in separa¬ 
ting gold dust from soil by the use of water. A few tools 
and implements, such as a man may carry, comprise the 
outfit. It is a mineral that every one can recognize. In its 
native and separate state, as soon as a few grains or scales 


PLACERS AND MINES CONTRASTED. 


33 


are gathered, it has the value of money. The negroes of 
Central Africa, and the Indians of Peru used it conveniently 
in this state, before coin was known to them. But super¬ 
ficial washings are rapidly exhaustive. The skill, machinery 
and capital applied to placer workings in California and 
Australia; have given new confidence in the durability of 
diluvial gold. They have enlarged the probable value of 
such deposits above that of shallow stream works, and 
brought them up to the character of mines. But for a per¬ 
petual supply we must look to the primitive deposits in 
veins. The ledges, beds and veins of auriferous quarts, from 
which the floating gold is derived, penetrate the rocks to 
such depths that they may be regarded as inexhaustible. It 
is the same with veins producing copper, in which gold is a 
constituent. The same rule also prevails in the case of lead 
mines that carry silver, and in which this metal is procured 
by regular mining. It is a slower process, but one upon 
which our ultimate reliance must be placed. 


3 


34 


SILVER MINES AND MINING CENTRES. 


SILVER MINES AND MINING CENTRES. 


The crest of the elevated region of Sinaloa, and Sonora, 
fronting the gulf of California; is rich in silver mines for a 
distance of 500 miles. It extends into Arizona, and up to 
the Gila River. In the Mexican State of Sonora on the 
South, there are 27 mining establishments. With an enter¬ 
prising people, and a stable government, there would be ten 
times that number within as many years. Mineral veins 
exist across the entire mountain country ; t'j the Sierra 
Mimbres and the Sierra Madre ; on the waters of the Rio Del 
Norte. Although gold is found it is but little worked. At 
present the most promising mining center of Arizona, is at 
the head waters of the Santa Cruz and the San Pedro 
Rivers. The government has recently caused a road to be 
surveyed from Fort Buchanan through the Mexican territory 
to the port of Lobos. This is by far the best outlet for the 
mining region around Tubac. The route is descending all 
the way, following the valley of the Altar and St. Ingnacio 
Rivers. It passes through a comparatively smooth country 
With an abundance of water and grass, and some settlements. 
The distance is less than 200 miles. This corner of Sonora 
is of so much consequence to the territory of Arizona that 
it is to be hoped our government will make efforts to pur¬ 
chase it from Mexico. Without this route the army supplies, 
and those for the mines must come by way of Fort Yuma, at 
least twice the distance, and over much worse roads. A 











MINES OF ARIZONA. 


35 


Steamer makes monthly trips between San Francisco and 
the Colorado, at the present time. Four months in the vear 
small Steam Boats may ascend the Colorado to the mouth of 
the Mohave River. 

The “ Sonora Exploring and Mining" Company, took the 
lead in operations upon silver producing veins in Arizona. 
There are remains at Tumacacari a few miles south of Tubac 
of ancient smelting works of the early Spaniards. Most of 
the work of the Sonora Exploring and Mining Company was 
done upon the “ ITeintzelman mines ” about 20 miles west of 
Tubac, under the direction of W. Wrightson, Esq. The depth 
to which the vein has been explored, and its thickness, dip 
and bearing are given in the table of mines. Specimens 
that I have seen from this and the Santa Rita veins, 15 
miles east of Tubac, contain a great variety of valuable 
minerals. From the lleintzelman mine green and blue car¬ 
bonate of copper, chloride of silver, sulphuret of copper, 
and argentiferous lead. The gangue is principally quartz, 
and the wall rock clay slate of the metamorphic series. An 
assay made at the mint gives for one specimen, including the 
quartz and iron vein matter: (4.20) four and T 2 0 of silver, 
with a trace of gold. The sulphurets of copper and lead, 
when separated, yielded 11.60 to 19.20 of silver. Argentif¬ 
erous galena from the “crystal” vein of the Santa Rita 
mines gave 48 ounces per ton. This was taken at 12 feet 
from the surface, where the vein was 30 inches wide; the 


36 


SILVER IN ARIZONA. 


wall rock porphyritie. The vein matter is q uartzose. A 
smelting of 1900 pounds of lead, from Santa Rita, gave 
($197) one hundred and ninety seven dollars in silver. 
About 25 miles south west from Tubac is the Arivacca Ranch 
where, there is gold bearing quartz and 40 or 50 miles north 
west is the Cahaubi mining location. Going north at 10 
mines the old “ Sopore " mine and Ranch is passed, situated 
upon a branch of the Santa Cruz River. At 40 miles is San 
Xavier, and at about 70 miles the old Maricopa mines are 
reached to the north of Tucson, upon the Gila River. There 
are placers upon the San Pedro which were once in high re¬ 
pute among the Mexicans. They are also known in the 
country west of Tubac, and up to the Gila, as far as the 
head of the Gulf of California. General Heintzelman who 
was on military duty in Arizona many years, regarded the 
country north of the Gila as highly promising for gold. 
Some 25 miles north east of Fort Yuma he reports the exist¬ 
ence of both silver and gold near the Colorado River. Recent 
accounts from Los Angelos confirm this view. 

Parties from there and from San Francisco, passing 
through Los Angelos, have crossed the Colorado near the 
south east corner of California, and returned well supplied 
with gold dust. They represent the placers as remarkably 
rich, but water is very scarce. 

Ninety miles east of Tubac, are the "Patagonia,” "Em¬ 
pire,” and “ French ” mines, not yet opened, which carry 
silver and lead. Still farther east, at about sixty miles, are 



VALLEY OF THE DEL NORTE. 


37 


the “ Babacomori veins, with silver, copper and lead. 
There are gold washings on the Mirabres river, fifty miles 
south west of Fort Thorn. To the east of Rio del Norte, in 
the Organ and Guadaloupe Mountains, there is an impor¬ 
tant development of silver producing veins. Mr. W. H. 
Ritter, a mining engineer of repute, has examined a family 
of veins, 18 miles north east of Fort Fillmore, known as the 
“ Stevenson Mine/' 'The rocks are sienite granite, and 
porphyry rising through Devonian and Carboniferous strata. 
Here the sulphurets of copper and lead carry gold and 
silver. The vein matter is ferruginous and clayey, forming 
gossan in the decomposed portions, and yielding an average 
of $70 per ton. The great mine of Real del Monte, in Mex¬ 
ico, has an average of $55 per ton. This range extending 
northerly towards Santa Fe, is likely to be in future the 
seat of important mines. The great copper mine at “ Santa 
Rita del Cobre,” in the Mimbres mountains, has an appreci¬ 
able quantity of gold in combination with native copper. 
In the eastern Hanks of the San Bernandino Range, towards 
the valley of the Mohave River, are the usual protrusions of 
porphyry and trachytic rocks in metamorphic limestones. 
There are the same tertiary conglomerates as in Sonora, and 
the same limestones as in the Chiracahuihuimountains,where 
there are veins of argentiferous galena. We may well pre¬ 
sume, therefore, that silver bearing veins will be found 
along the intermediate portions of the Sierra Nevada Range, 
from the Colorado to the Washoe mines. Silver has al- 


WASHOE. 


38 


ready been discovered in veins at Round Valley, near 
Mariposa. 

Washoe is the centre of a remarkable mineral region at 
the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada, on the waters of 
Carsons river, in latitude about 39° north. Here are power¬ 
ful veins, ledges and masses of quarts that carry lead and 
silver. The silver is frequently seen in its native form in 
thread like coils, but is generally diffused throughout 
“ galena ” or sulphuret of lead. The ledges or veins are 
not destitute of gold. This region has produced, according 
to the San Francisco Price current, $6,000,000 during the 
year 1862, principally in silver. Mining enterprises are 
spreading eastward along the valley of the Humboldt River 
to Reese River, 150 miles from Washoe. This is as far to 
the north as silver has been wrought, but if we can rely 
upon geological indications, this metal should be found in 
Oregon and Idaho, especially on the Kootanie River, as 
above named. 


PLACERS AND GOLD BEARING VEINS. 


39 


DISTRIBUTION OF PLACERS AND GOLD BEARING 

VEINS. 

Although there is but one gold mine, proper, in Mexico, 
—which is in the State of Oajaca, South of the National 
Capital—yet gold is frequently found in small quantities. 
Some of the silver bearing veins produce a small proportion 
of gold; and in the Northern States there were, at one 
time, profitable placers. Those near the heads of the Gila, 
and on the waters of the San Pedro, were most prominent. 
Placer gold was also found lower down the Gila river, and 
near the head of the Gulf of California. 

In those Southern regions, where the drift action, to 
which I have before alluded, was less intense, the rocks 
have been less abraded, and their debris not so much mixed 
or transported. 

Under the same circumstances, in other respects, a better 
display of placer gold should be expected in the more 
Northerly regions of Pikes’ Peak, Idaho, Oregon, and 
Columbia. Here the disintegrating process has been assist¬ 
ed by powerful glacier action. North of our boundary be¬ 
tween latitude 50 and 52, there are glaciers at this time in 
the Rocky Mountain range. Whatever there is in nature 
c dculated to destroy rocky strata operates much more effec¬ 
tually in those latitudes where the drift action was most 
conspicuous. These are the best agents for separating gold 
from its matrix, on a large scale. 


40 


VALLEY OF THE GILA. 


On the waters of the Gila, and those of the lower Del 
Norte, and of the Colorado, there was not only a diminu¬ 
tion of the drift forces, but water for working is not as 
abundant there as it is farther North. This explains why, 
in the arid regions of Northern Mexico, and Arizona, pla¬ 
cer gold has never been extensively wrought. The exist¬ 
ence of gold dust, in the superficial materials there, has 
been known from the early Spanish occupation. Besides, 
there is a want of transportation, which has always been 
expensive, owing to distance, and dangerous on account of 
Indians. At present the forces of the United States occupy 
the valley of the Gila. As soon as confidence is restored 
the best situations will be determined, artificial modes of 
supplying water will be brought into use, and surface gold 
will be produced. 

Everything indicates a rich region for placers North of 
the Gila. One party recently brought into Los Angelos 
$24,000 in dust. The deposits are rich and extensive, but 
sadly destitute of water. All the expeditions which have 
crossed the upper valley of the Colorado, found gold in 
numerous places. 

On the head waters of the Rio del Norte, above Santa 
Fe, gold washing is now going on ; and, also, on the upper 
branches of the San Juan—a tributary of the Colorado, in 
the Territory of Colorado. 

The operations of which Pike’s Peak and Denver City are 


COLORADO AND IDAHO. 


41 


the center, are sufficiently well known. The amount re¬ 
ceived at the mint from there, in 1862, was §8,521,000. 
These works embrace not only extensive washings on the 
head waters of the Arkansas, and the Nebraska, but regu¬ 
lar mine work upon quartz veins. 

There is reported to be parties at work on the Western 
slopes of the mountains, in the valleys at the head of Grand 
River. Between these works and the most Easterly 
placers of Nevada, there is a country not yet explored; hut 
the new diggings are every season approaching each other 
from both directions. During the past year most cheering 
developments have taken place within the new Territory of 
Idaho. 

Last Fall many emigrants who were destined for Oregon, 
diverged from the route at Fort Hall, taking a Northerly 
direction. Owing to a sudden change to the Westward, in 
the direction of the Rocky Mountains at the Black Hills, 
a Northerly course from Fort Hall brought them again 
to the East of the range, and to the head waters of the Mis¬ 
souri. Their principal object was to locate around the 
sources of Jefferson’s Fork, on the “ Big Hole Prairie,” in a 
region which trappers, and government exploring parties, 
have represented as very attractive for farming purposes. 

Capt. Mullen, of the United States Engineers, has been 
engaged several years in making a road from the navigable 
waters of the Missouri, at a point near the Great Falls, to 


42 


HEADS OF THE MISSOURI RIVER. 


the navigable waters of the Columbia, at the mouth ol the 
Walla Walla River. His Report, which is of great interest, 
was made last Winter, and is ordered by Congress to be 
printed. He found the mountain chain to be low and nar¬ 
row. From latitude 40 deg. North to the Kootanie pass, 
near the British line, the general elevation of the back 
bone of the range is about 6,000 feet above the Ocean. The 
climate in the valleys is so moderate that Capt. Mullen 
prosecuted his work on the road, without interruption, in 
Winter. He remained in the mountain region four years, 
with his party, and speaks of it as desirable for agriculture, 
without reference to minerals. In the “Deer Lodge” val¬ 
ley, on the Western slope, the Indians pasture their horses 
through the Winter, where the snow does not exceed three 
inches in depth. About (600) six hundred families had 
arrived at the heads of the Missouri before the season of 
emigrant travel closed in 1862. They saw that the rocks, 
and the associated gravel and earth, resembled those of 
Pike’s Peak. As soon as they began to wash the soil, they 
discovered gold, and were able to send down the river a 
sum that I am satisfied exceeds a quarter of a million. 

Capt. Galpin, of the steamer Shreveport, carried §180,000 
to St. Louis, principally from the Grasshopper Fork and the 
Beaver Head valley. There has been an arrival of treasure 
from the same region this Spring. 

The emigrant road from the head of navigation, on the 


HEAD WATERS OF COLUMBIA RIVER. 


43 


Missouri, at Fort Benton, passes the mountains by the “ Lit¬ 
tle Prickly Pear ” river, where there is gold. It follows the 
Northwest bank of the Missouri, above the Falls, about 125 
miles, and, turning up the Little Prickly Pear, attains the 
summit in about twenty-five miles. The river is navigable 
above the Falls, for small boats, to the point where the road 
leaves it. Across the summit are the head waters of the 
“Hell Gate’’ river, embracing the beautiful Peer Lodge 
valley, where gold diggers are already at work. 

In the valley of Clark’s Fork, of the Columbia, at Pend 
Oreilles, and about Fort Colville, there are washings for 
gold. They are also at work on the heads of Salmon river, 
from latitude 44 to 45 deg., on the West side of the Pocky 
Mountains, opposite the Big Hole Prairie. These diggings 
are nearer to the old Oregon route than those on the heads 
of the Missouri. 

At Fort Boise, directly on this route, and on Lewis’ Fork 
of the Columbia, gold dust has been produced. 

Making due allowance for the attractions that all new 
countries possess in the eyes of those who are the first to 
occupy them, there is abundant evidence of the mineral 
value of the central parts of Idaho. Its products will be 
more abundant and regular because it is desirable in other 
respects. It is accessible by water one half the year. 
From the head of navigation, on the Columbia, a rail road 
is already in coarse of construction, up the valley of the 


44 


GOLD AND SILVER IN THE UNITED SIATES. 


Walla Walla, in the direction of the Rocky Mountains. 
The distance between the present landings, on the East of 
the Mountains, to those on the West, is said to be less than 
700 miles. There is plenty of water and timber in the in¬ 
termediate country, which is also represented to be healthy. 


PRODUCT OF GOLD AND SILVER IN THE UNITED 

STATES. 

Our own mines are the principal sources from which our 
precious metals are drawn. Silver has, thus far, played 
only an insignificant part; but it must be different in 
future. From 1841 to 1862, the entire product of silver 
in the United States, which reached the mint, was only 
$5,226,441. Of this more than one half was extracted from 
native gold, in which it exists as an alloy. Gold now con¬ 
stitutes, substantially, the metallic basis and circulation of 
this country—and of the world. In the United States, the 
State of California has hitherto been the main resource. 

As no rental or tax is paid on gold mines, it is not possi¬ 
ble to determine precisely the amount produced. In the 
British Colonies, there are modes of obtaining exact accounts 
of the gold of their mines and placers; but, with us, there 
is nothing certain beyond the official statements of the re¬ 
ceipts at the mint. Our most precise and laborious statisti¬ 
cians differ materially in their estimates of the yield of Cali- 



DISAPPEARANCE OF COIN. 


45 


fornia. I shall present the figures given by our best author¬ 
ities, and leave the reader to affix to each their due weight. 
After this is done, it will be very instructive to examine 
the general specie account of the country. This cannot be 
exactly stated, and for many reasons. Gold and silver 
arrives in, and departs from, the United States in other 
ways than the course of trade. A pound of gold dust, or 
coin, is worth from 250 to 300 dollars, according to its 
purity. Emigrants, who reach here from the Old World, 
have their principal wealth in the form of gold, which soon 
enters into circulation. Adventurers in the mines from 
Central and South America, from Europe, and even from 
Asia, can carry about their persons, on their return home, 
the results of their good fortune. Those processes are an 
offset to each other, but there are no reliable means of 
striking the balance. What goes out and returns in the 
course of trade, appears upon the Custom House records. 
What is sunk, for the purposes of traffic and circulation, in 
the form of ornaments and utensils of luxury, in the arts, 
and in dentistry, can only be roughly estimated. Mr. 
Pollock, the director of the United States Mint, places the 
sum of (140,000,000) one hundred and forty millions to this 
account in the United States. The loss by accident, and by 
abrasion, of coin, he considers has generally been over¬ 
estimated. In England the wear of sovereigns is put at 
l-10th of one per cent, per annum; but, by experiments, at 
our mint, it is, for American gold, less than l-3550ths part. 


40 


CALIFORNIA—YIELD OF GOLD. 


Loss of coin by abrasion depends upon the activity of its 
circulation, and, therefore, cannot be uniform. The Eng¬ 
lish sovereigns would disappear, by use, in one thousand 
years, while the American eagles would last four or five 
times as long. Some tables, relating to these subjects, will 
be given below. 

In stating the products of the California gold fields, the 
receipts at the mint, its branches, and assay offices, are the 
only certain data. Mr. Whitney, in preparing his great 
work upon the “Metallic Wealth of the United States, 
took much pains to determine the amount which left the 
country in an irregular way. So far as our own citizens are 
concerned, it must soon find its way to the mint, except the 
small quantity of dust that is absorbed by jewelers and arti¬ 
sans. From thirteen to twenty millions remain perma 
nently in California, in common use, taking the place of a 
paper circulation. Before the branch mint was established 
there, in 1852, a large portion of what left the country was 
in private hands, of which no public account can be had. 
Mr. Whitney estimates the sum carried away by foreign 
miners, in 1848-9, at §10,000,000. The highest estimate of 
our own writers, for the best year, is §55,500,000, and of 
the British, §70,000,000. As between the average of the 
best general estimates, and the receipts at the mint, there is 
a difference, as appears below, of §138,728,249, in a period 
of fourteen years. 


PRODUCT OF PRECIOUS METALS. 


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48 


DEPOSITS AT UNITED STATES’ MINT. 


TABLE A. 


Deposits at the Mint of the United States, other than from California, 
from 1848 to 1852. 

(Reports of Director of the Mint.) 


State or Territory 


Gold in 
Dollars. 


„ m Silver 

State or Territory.^ Dol’s. 


Tennessee,_ 

Alabama,_ 

Georgia,_ 

North Carolina, 

Virginia,_ 

Utah,_ 

Arizona,_ 

Nebraska,_ 

Oregon, _ 

Nevada,_ 

Colorado,_ 

New Mexico, 
Other sources, . 


198,920 California,_ 

81,406 Michigan: L. Superior, 
6,909,128 North Carolina,_ 


9.113,974 

1,558,805 

80,067 

21,500 

1,402 

963,458 

53,846 

4,735,049 

56,929 

82,332 

I 


Arizona,_ 

Sonora,_ 

Nevada,_ 

Ex. from native Gold, 

Total,_ 


8,224 

106,364 

41,808 

25,722 

1,220 

1,073,408 

3,969,634 


5,226,441 


Total, 1848 to 1862, 

(fiscal years.)_J 23,855,246 





































FUTURE PRODUCT. 


49 


PRESENT YIELD IN GOLD AND SILVER, 

Of the Mines of the United States, with an Estimate for 1867 and 1872. 


State. 

Product of 

1862. 

Estimate for 

1867. 

1872. 

California,_ 

50,000,000 

65,000,000 


Colorado, _ 

8,521,000 

20,000,000 


Nevada, 

Oregon and 
Washington,. 

6,000,000 

1,000,000 

20,000,000 

2,000,000 

50 per cent. 

added to the 

New Mexico & 
Utah,. 

150,000 

5,000,000 

estimates oi 

Idaho, 

250,000 

10,000,000 

1867. 

OtherTeritories 

100,000 

500,000 


Arizona, - . _ 


5,000,000 





Total, 

66,021,000 

127,500,000 

191,250,000 


4 
































50 


GENERAL ACCOUNT. 


ACCUMULATION OF TREASURE. 

The reports of the Secretary of the Treasury in reference 
to the exports and imports of coin and bullion, do not ex¬ 
tend farther than the year 1821. In reference to the amount 
of precious metals within the United States, the official 
estimates begin in 1844. In 1821 the country had not re¬ 
covered from the effects of an exhaustive war. The number 
of Banks was few, their capital small, and their paper de¬ 
preciated. The stock of specie must have been low, for the 
population, and the consumption for jewelry, gilding, and 
arts generally, must have been small. 

It would be very satisfactory if a statement, or a fair 
estimate, could be made of the stock of coin and bullion on 
hand at the time when our tables of exports and imports 
commence. This is the best starting point in the specie 
account of the nation. Before 1821 our domestic product 
was quite insignificant—only about $100,000. From that 
year to 1844, inclusive, the balances of trade were so much 
in our favor that we had gained $22,949,012. Our domestic 
product increased from $100,000 to $9,769,352, making a 
total addition of $32,718,362. 

The Secretary of the Treasury, in his report of 1856, 
estimates the available amount of coin and bullion in the 
country, in 1844, to have been one hundred millions , and, in 
1856, two hundred and fifty millions. 


DEPRECIATION AND LOSS. 


51 


Of the stock on hand in 1844, about two-thirds, or $66,- 
000,000, must have been derived from private importation, 
by emigrants, and from the remains of what was in the 
country in 1821. How can these two amounts be determ¬ 
ined? 

Many attempts have been made by able writers, such as 
Humboldt, Jacobs and McCulloch, to ascertain the rate of 
disappearance of specie. The results are so wide apart that 
they can scarcely be regarded as statistics, but some of them 
will be given below. In 1848 the London Economist fixes 
the annual consumption in the United States, from all 
causes other than the abrasion of coin, at $2,500,000 per 
annum. The different circumstances of the population of 
Europe, when compared with ours, renders a calculation 
here, made upon the European basis, of little value. Sil¬ 
ver, which constitutes much of the circulation in the Old 
World, disappears four times more rapidly than gold. In 
this country the silver circulation is small. It enters, 
however, largely into manufactures. 

From 1837 we have annual returns of specie in the vaults 
of organized banks. It was then $37,915,390, and the 
white population of the United States about twelve and 
three-quarters millions. This is about $3.07 to each indi¬ 
vidual. In 1860 there was in vault $90,289,762, and a 
white population of 26,973,843. The ratio of specie had 
increased very little in twenty-three years, being about 


54 


OFFICIAL REPORTS. 


The object of such discussions is to enable those whose 
duties or whose inclination it may be to investigate 
the financial condition of the country in coming times to 
form correct opinions. In the present freedom of commerce, 
the precious metals flow over the earth like the currents of 
the ocean, without reference to national boundaries. The 
condition of other nations and their products in treasure, 
affect us and every other trading people. To determine 
how we may stand in future, we must know not only what 
the surplus metallic production of the United States will be, 
but also what will be the probable drain from us by foreign 
nations. In summing up the product of this country hither¬ 
to, the returns of domestic coinage furnish correct data so 
far as bullion and dust reaches the mint. So far as the 
specie basis of paper circulation is concerned, the reports of 
the Banks present reliable facts as to the amount in the 
country. By the annual Reports on the Finances, we are 
posted as to the depletion of coin by the foreign demand, 
all together forming a good ground work for general esti¬ 
mates. 

Before making an exhibit for the year 1862, I give a 
table showing the relation of specie in bank to the ascer¬ 
tained and estimated population since 1821. 


SPECIE IN THE COUNTRY. 


00 


RATIO BETWEEN SPECIE IN THE BANKS OF 
THE UNITED STATES AND THE POPULATION. 


, I 

WHITE 

SPECIE IN 

DATE. 

popul’on. 

BANKS. 

1820 

7,861,931* 

20,000,000+ 

1830 ; 

10,537,378* 

30,000,000+ 

1837 

12,750,000+ 

37,916,340 

1840 

14,195,695* 

Want in". 

1844 

16,250,000+ 

49,898,269 

1850 

19,553,111* 

45,379,345 

1851 

20,750,000+ 

48,671,048 

U 

(l U tl J. 

1 

59,835,775 

1 

1856 

24,150,000+ 

59,314,663 

1860 

26,973,843* 

90,289,762 

1862 

28,000,000+ 

105,546,215 


SPECIE IN THE 
COUNTRY. 


AUTHORITY, &C. 


100,000,000 


250,000,000 


At $3,00 per person, 
i $23,585,793. 

! At $3,00 $31,721,134. 
New Am. Cyclopedia, 
ratio per individual 
$3,13 of specie in b’k. 
Cyclopedia. F i n ance 
j Reports, ratio 3,07— 
ratio of est’ate $6,10. 
i Finance Report. 
Finance Report. 
Finance Rep’t. Depo¬ 
sits in U. S. Treas¬ 
ury included. 

tt It l. 

Ratio $2,80, do. of esti¬ 
mate $10,30. 

tl U (. 


275 to 300 ms. 


Ratio $3,34. 

tl It u 

Ratio in Bank, $3,76, 
do. of estimate, $9,81 
to $10,71. 


♦Census. 

tEstimate. 

































SUPPLY AND CONSUMPTION. 


5G 

In the United States coin lias never constituted the ordi¬ 
nary circulation, except in California. At the present time, 
and since the rebellion commenced, paper money has been 
legal tender. Specie is no longer used even for small 
change. The ordinary wear of coin is now scarcely appre¬ 
ciable. Improvements in electro-gilding and plating has 
reduced the demand for those purposes. The actual destruc¬ 
tion and loss cannot exceed one half of one per cent. What 
is secreted among the people should not be regarded as a 
loss, but rather as a safe deposit, which will come forth at 
the time when it is most needed. While the whole value of 
manufactures, into which the precious metals enter, is not far 
from twenty ynillions, the absorption should not exceed half 
that sum, or $10,000,000 annually. 

To determine how T much of the domestic specie product of 
the United States between 1844 and 1856 remained in the 
country at the latter date, is nearly impossible. Outside of 
California the home product in these (12) twelve years 
varied but little from (24) twenty four millions. The differ¬ 
ence between the receipts at the mint from California, and 
the average of the estimates above given, is (191) nineteen 
one half per cent. This excess went out of the country 
privately, was absorbed by manufacturers in form of dust, 
or went into circulation in California as private coin, in all 
amounting to about $80,000,000. How much of it shall be 
assigned to each of these modes of disappearance ? 


TWELVE YEARS PREVIOUS TO 1856. 


57 


In round numbers the total domestic product received at 
the mint between 1844 and 1856 is (326) three hundred and 
twenty-six millions and one-half. During the same time 
there was an excess of exports of specie over imports amount¬ 
ing to two hundred and seven millions and one-half, -leaving 
an ascertained balance in our favor of one hundred and 
nineteen millions. If we assume that the stock on hand in 
1844 was $100,000,000, and allow two per cent, for loss and 
disappearance in all forms, there would be remaining at the 
end of twelve years the sum of seventy-six millions. Some 
deduction should be made for disappearance from the newly 
acquired stock of our own production, most of which increase 
accumulated subsequent to 1848. At two per cent, a year 
this, for eight years, is $19,040,000, leaving in round num¬ 
bers one hundred millions of the new product; and of the 
old and new stock, together 176 millions. Under the 
Secretary’s estimate of 250 millions, there remains 74 mil¬ 
lions to be accounted for, a part of which is covered by 
private specie circulation in California. 

By using the estimated product of California prior to 
1856, instead of the receipts at the mint, the total of the 
home supply is four hundred and four millions and one 
quarter. On this basis, after subtracting the balance of 
exports, and the amount lost and absorbed at the above 
rates, there should have been in the country in 1856 two 
hundred and fifty-six and one quarter millions, without 


58 


ANOMALIES OF THE SPECIE ACCOUNT. 


taking private importations or exportations into the account. 
We have been accustomed to regard the specie brought by 
emigrants, as an important source of supply. 

Without it we have no mode of accounting for the pre • 
sence of the 100 millions supposed to be in the country in 
1844. Nearly one half of that sum reached the United 
States in other ways than by importation or production. 
Perhaps two per cent, is too low for depreciation, loss and 
absorption of coin, during the period under review, but if so 
one per cent, must also be below the truth previous to 1844. 
Perhaps the estimated product of the country is too large, 
but most writers have made it larger. The amount of coin 
in bank in 1856 was not ten millions more than in 1844 ; 
and in proportion to population it was less than at any time 
since the returns have been made. The country, in both 
periods, was suffering one of those periodical depressions in 
business and credit that result from extravagant living, 
speculation and debt. Between 1844 and 1856, the coinage 
had increased rapidly, amounting in the intermediate years 
to §405,649,640 of gold, and §40,539,759 of silver. The 
total of coinage exceeds the domestic product deposited at 
the mint about 120 millions, and the average estimate of 
home production 42 millions. As a part of this was domes¬ 
tic coin recast, the fact of increased coinage throws very 
little light upon the subject of the origin and the disappear¬ 
ance of oar precious metals. To explain the anomalies con- 


CONDITION IN 1862. 


59 


nectecl with it, requires an investigation to be carried on 
with the government aid and facilities. 

A general statement for 1862 will be found nearly as follows: 

Stock in hands of Banks, Bankers and 

the people, - - - 275 to 800 millions. 

Home product, (Calendar year) - 66 “ millions. 

Annual Disappearance. 

1st. Consumed in the arts, (large estimate) 10 millions. 
2nd. Loss by accident, “ “ llmillions. 

3rd. Loss by paid foreign nations aver¬ 
age 14 years, 1848 to 1862, per 
annum, - - - - 31 millions. 


421 millions. 




60 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


GOLD AND SILVER OF OTHER COUNTRIES. 

History gives some information respecting the precious 
metals among ancient nations. In all ages the principal 
concentration has been with the people who were the most 
commercial. When the Greeks held that position the 
channels of the traffic centered with them. In the days of 
Herodotus they procured gold from the far off nations of 
Scythia, at the base of the Ural Mountains, where the Rus¬ 
sians do now. Alexander the great procured about $400.- 
000.000 in his conquests in Asia, most of which came to en¬ 
rich the Grecian people. 

In those barbarous days, plunder was one of the objects 
of war, and gold was one of the most convenient forms of 
plunder. When the centre of trade was transferred to 
Rome, that city became the principal magazine for the pre¬ 
cious metals. They were derived from washings in Asia 
and Africa. At the decline* of the Roman Empire, and the 
simultaneous decay of commerce, gold and silver almost 
disappeared from view. During the Dark Ages trade be¬ 
tween nations was limited. A writer in the Continental 
Monthly for March, 1863, estimates the total of treasure in 
commercial use throughout Europe ; when America was dis¬ 
covered, at $57,000,000 only ; less than there is now in 
the city of New York. When mankind began to awake 
and resume their enterprise, specie become the first object of 
their attention. Spain had some limited mines of silver, and 


INCREASE OF GOLD. 


61 


the sands of Africa produced a little gold. It soon became 
known that America was rich in precious metals, and all 
Europe was aroused. There was a steady accumulation 
there from this continent during three hundred years. In 
1819 the chief deposits of the Ural and the Altai Mountains 
in Russia, began to affect the markets of the old world. The 
possession of California by the United States, led to another 
and a large addition to the common stock in 1848, and in 
1852, a powerful stream of gold set in from the opposite 
side of the world in Australia. The increase has thus been 
much more rapid than the increase of population. But to 
arrive at the precise sum is impracticable. Reports upon coin¬ 
age are accessible from the principal commercial countries 
such as France, England. Mexico, Russia and the United 
States. I give the returns for those countries : 



62 


COINAGE. 


RETURNS OF COINAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL 
MINTS OF TITE WORLD. 


COUNTRY. 

PERIOD EM¬ 
BRACED. 

NO. 

yr’s 

TOTAL IN 
DOLLARS. 

AUTHORITY. 

England, _ 

44 

44 

Mexico, __ 

Russia,_ 

France_ 

U. States, 

[Assayed bars 
included.] 

1372 to 1509 
1603 to 1829 
1829 to 1862 
1535 to 1850 
1644 to 1862 
1726 to 1862 
1792 to 1862 

237 

226 

33 

315 

218 

136 

70 

8,295,000 
924,955,950 
315,044,050 
2,667,828,851 
2,088,220 000 
1,641,000,000 
861.799,451 

350,000 Chamber’s Jour. 
4 097,075 “ “ 

9,546,800 Continental Mo. 
8,719,713 Dr. Fisher. 
9,579,000 Chamber’s Jour. 
12,066,000 Continental Mo. 
12,138,020 Finance Report. 

| 


In both production and coinage the United States takes 
the lead of all other nations, a position she is destined to 
hold. The mints of France and England are largely sup¬ 
plied by bullion from the United States. These encourag¬ 
ing facts will appear more fully by a comparison of the 
annual product of different countries throughout the world, 
that will be found below : 

PRINCIPAL SOURCES OF SUPPLY DURING THE 

PRESENT CENTURY. 


Banker’s Magazine. 


COUNTRIES. 

II 

►> 

U 

1800. 

a:d. 

18487" 

A7d: 18587 

GOLD. 

SILVER. 

GOLD. 

SILVER. 

GOLD. 

America 
(with’t Cal., 
Europe,_ 

9,600,000 

750,000 

500,000 

1,400,000 

4,150,000 

35,000,000 

2,800,000 

1,000,000 

10,500,000 

1,800,000 

20,500,000 

2,750,000 

15,000,000 

31,000,000 

6,600,000 

1,000,000 

60,000,000* 

7,750,000* 

17,500.000 

Russian Emp., 
Africa,_ 

All other 
countries, 

500,000 

5,000,000 


California (av- 





50,366,600 

erage lOyrs. 
Australia (av- 









58,703,143 

erage 7 yrs. 





Africa and S. 





8,250,000 

of Asia.. 





Total_ 

16,400,000 

39,300,000 

50,550,000 43,600,000 

201,579,743' 


*Gold and Silver. 






























































GENERAL STATEMENT OF PRODUCT OF GOLD AND SILVER DURING THE 

CHRISTIAN ERA. 


PRODUCT OF GOLD AND SILVER. 


63 


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64 


ERRATA. 


ERRATA. 

Page 6, line 1: “of” between the words Cordilleras and North. 
Page 7, line 6: “a” for “its.” 

Page 8, head of Table : “ Authority ” for “ Authories.” 

Page 45, head : “Mezquite” for “Musquite.” 

Page 46, five lines from bottom : “ 65 ” for “ 55 ” millions. 

Page 47, Oregon, Utah, &c.: “1862” for “1852.” 

Page 48, Table A, in Heading; “1862” for « 1852.” 



I am in possession of valuable information in 
reference to the coal fields of Ohio, Kentucky, 
and Western Virginia; the copper mines of Lake 
Superior; the silver-bearing veins of Arizona, 
and the gold regions of Idaho. 

CIIAS. WHITTLESEY, 

Geologist and Alining Engineer. 

Waking’s Block, Clevland, Ohio. 




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